9.13.17 Wisconsin Grown | Part 19

Our kitchen these days is chock full of a mishmash of fall and summer produce - piles of apples and pears grace the countertops alongside bowls of peaches and tomatoes. Bunches of basil sit on the windowsill next to pumpkins. One day I’m cooking apple cider doughnuts, the next I’m grilling sweet corn. It’s a crazy time of year, and I absolutely love it. Of course, our CSA box also reflects this mashup of seasons. Now that we’re past the heat of summer, we’re seeing the return of some of the cooler weather veggies like lettuce and radishes along with our perennial summer favorites like tomatoes and eggplants. And as fall creeps closer, we’re finding more roots as well - things like leeks and potatoes, and beets. It’s a total mashup of seasons this week and I couldn’t be more excited to get cooking with it all. Here’s what I’ll be making this week:

Lettuce is back! Back in June when we were drowning in the stuff, I never thought I’d be so excited for more, but here I am in September craving salads doused in Goddess Dressing, and thick, overstuffed BLTs, so this lettuce is a welcome sight indeed.

The Tomatoes keep on coming and we’ll keep eating them as fast as they come in. Have I mentioned how absolutely obsessed I am with Food52’s Scalloped Tomatoes? We made them last week, and we’re going to be eating them again this week, and probably every week until tomato season ends. But of course, with all these tomatoes, we’ll also have plenty extra for things like this tomato, basil, and brie pasta, or Chews Local’s Heirloom Tomato Burrata Salad with Warm Marinated Olives.

If you know me, you know I can’t stand Beets, but after forcing myself to confront my beet hate during last year’s beet season, I determined that if you add enough fennel, walnuts, and goat cheese, they’re somewhat tolerable. If even a beet hater can get behind Things I Made Today’s Beet and Fennel Galette with Walnuts, you know it must be pretty darn good.

I love using this Soy Citrus Soba Noodle Salad as a blank canvas for whatever crunchy veggies I have on hand in a given week, and this week’s Radishes and Edamame seem like the perfect additions.

Of course, Edamame is also great on its own, boiled with a sprinkle of salt and a pair of chopsticks.

I always love a good Eggplant, especially when it teams up with Tomatoes, pasta and ricotta salata as in Bon Appetit’s Pasta alla Norma. But honestly, it’s also pretty great in Mapo Eggplant as well.

Potatoes and Leeks are a match made in heaven, which is why something like a Potato and Leek Frittata or just plain old mashed potatoes with leeks are so satisfyingly tasty.

Any extra Leeks though are going to find their way into The Leek and the Carrot’s Leek Apple Cornbread, because, yum.